A Dirty Love Affair

Sandy almost seems like history by now, except for those still dealing with it’s aftermath. Looking back over what was and wasn’t done right, one of the podcasts I listen to started an interesting project. They are still organizing, but they put out a call to their audience and anyone they know to form a volunteer group of emergency responders spread around the country. Professional responders will head it. The idea is to respond to areas that FEMA, the Red Cross, and other organizations out of necessity have to give lower priority when something large happens. For now there has been some discussion of the project scattered across a few podcasts. You can scroll down a list of episodes athttp://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/?s=responder to find out more.

—————

Let us know how you’re faring post-hurricane and what, if anything, you’re doing differently. I am finally putting together my home emergency kit, and have bought whistles, plastic sheets and duct tape, flashlights, batteries, etc. I am hearing from some people who I wouldn’t expect about preparations they are making for 12/21. As for myself, I am planning on treating it like any other Friday (which lately means like any other night of the week except for maybe an hour less of sleep). How about you? Any extra prep in anticipation of the long awaited day that Mayans purportedly predicted would be the end of the world as we know it? Go ahead … gimme the dirt!

Like this:

Related

3 responses to “Sandy’s Over – Now What?”

12/21- one of 365.25 days in the year, winter solstice, and perhaps most importantly my birthday. End of the world- hardly. The collapse of the dollar as we know it is a mathematical certainty but for some reason very very few are preparing for that. Yet, due to the hype in the media people actually believe the world will end next week because the Mayan calendar ends. Guess what, our calendar ends every 365/ 366 days- and we start it all over again. I think the Mayans with all their astronomical knowledge and knowing the cyclical nature of things intended their calendar to repeat the cycle as well.

To be fair, back in 1999 with Y2K approaching I did do a few things by way of preparing. Working with computers I saw all the man hours and money spent by banks and large companies to ‘fix’ their computer’s software before 2000 hit. Seeing that I knew there was something very real about Y2K, The one lasting thing I did back then was buy a deep cycle battery and inverter so I would have some electricity if the lights did go out. I didn’t need them in 2000, but they did supply me with electric during Sandy’s blackout. I had to replace the original battery since then, and I added a second battery for more power.

I’ve only been aware of rational preparing for a few years now. It’s very easy to find ‘tin foil hat’ advice, but in reality the most likely disasters are loss of a job/ income, a pandemic, storms, economic collapse and the likely civil unrest that would follow, and death of a loved one- to mention a few. There are other real possibilities, but the above are far more likely than a large meteor striking the Earth, so those are the things to think about.

I’ve mentioned generators, batteries, and inverters a number of times. Two really good recent podcasts on battery backup power systems to give you electric during a blackout can be found at http://www.battery1234.com
The free MP3 downloads explain battery backup power from the most basic system on up to installing one in your vehicle with a solar panel. Basically, an inverter takes 12 volts from a battery and coverts it to 120 volts like what comes out of your wall outlet. The 12 volt battery can be the one in your car, or one or more you keep in the basement or a closet.

A battery backup power system is a good fairly cheap way to start, and the podcasts give great advice on their advantages and limitations. Steven’s analogy to a submarine, “run silent run deep” is a great one. I did exactly that during Sandy, using only batteries for lights and charging things from the time my power went out until the next morning. Only then did I run the generator for a while to recharge the batteries and run a couple high power appliances.

If anyone is curious, thinking of making, or going to make something to provide electric during a blackout Steven’s free podcasts are a must listen. His other free podcasts on generators and alternative energy can be found on http://www.solar1234.com

I still have one leftover from Sandy in my yard. It’s the branch that was broken and swinging over my sidewalk for about 2 years. I filed with the city to have it taken down, and the last time I checked, about a year ago, the work order status said ‘overdue’. On it’s way to becoming a protected landmark due to it’s shear age, Sandy did in short order what the city apparently couldn’t do in a couple years. Luckily nobody was under it when it came crashing down. The broken branch now resides in my yard where I pulled it after Sandy did the hard part. Come summer I’ll sharpen an axe and cut it into small pieces for disposal.